Casey Carder

Degree Audit Coordinator

Pulaski Technical College

North Little Rock

Age: 27

Casey Carder

Casey Carder wants to change the world. The best way to do that, the 27-year-old thought, was through education.As the degree audit coordinator for Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, Carder helped comb through academic records and found students who were eligible or close to degrees but never applied for them. The school has contacted the students, and 2,100 degrees have been awarded because of the initiative. After graduating with her law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen Law School in 2006, Carder practiced law and then taught middle-school students in Little Rock."I felt that if I ever wanted to do education law, education policy, then I needed to have been in the trenches," she said. Carder took the job at Pulaski Tech earlier this year as she works to complete her doctorate in educational administration and supervision from UALR. She isn't sure yet what she'll do with the degree when she completes it next year. Away from Pulaski Tech, Carder volunteers with reading programs in the Little Rock School District. The feeling that there's always more she can do keeps Carder motivated."A driving force has to be the ability to change things," she said. "If you see a problem that you can help with, that becomes your drive."